Clinical research in Uruguay

An issue that has not been solved yet

Abstract

For some time, the need to promote, decisively and definitively, scientific research in our country has been installed in national academic and political environments. In fact, the elected government less than a year ago has committed to allocate, at the end of the 2016-2020 five-year period, 1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to scientific research and 6% to public education. For its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that 2% of the health budget be invested in research and development in the area (1).
Justifying the investment in scientific research in the 21st century is almost like justifying the need for higher education or, why not, the need to access - once and for all - the cultural independence of our country. Something that should not surprise, while for many years the country allocated a lower percentage of GDP to public education, comparable to countries with very little economic, cultural and scientific development. Only in the last ten years has this reality begun to reverse to reach reasonable figures, although indisputably - and necessarily - improvable.Various circumstances seem to converge in recognizing the importance of investment in higher education and scientific research. However, what is related to clinical research is still scarcely taken into account, when not - plain and simple - ignored.